Alan is a schoolboy. He is good at all his subjects .He thinks computers can help him with his homework. So Alan wanted a computer last week. He asked his parents     _ the money and they said he must get it himself. But how did he get it? He    _ about this when he walked home. Not many people wanted to ask children to work for them. Maybe he could take away snow for the neighbors. But this was not     _ . He had to wait a long time for that. He couldn’t cut grass for their gardens      _he had no tools to do the work with.

     Then he saw one of his classmates, Dick, delivering (送)  newspaper. I could do that, he thought. Maybe I could even get the computer      __ away. I could pay for it a little each week. He ran to      __ up with Dick. Alan asked him a lot of questions. He learned that it was     _ to get twenty-five dollars each week. He learned that the job took about three hours each night. Dick     him the phone number of the newspaper manager Alan almost flew home. After he had told his mother      _he thought, she smiled “I think it is a  great idea,” she said, “I’ll call the newspaper….”

         “Wait, Mum,” Alan said, “I’ll call. After that, I’m going to be a businessman now.”

        Alan’s mother smiled     _ . We should learn from him.

1.A. in            B. at              C. with         D. for 

2.A. said           B. told          C. thought      D. spoke

3.A. spring       B. summer      C. autumn      D. winter

4.A. when         B. because      C. while        D. after

5.A. now           B. right           C. just          D. only

6.A. take           B. catch          C. carry        D. put

7.A. friendly     B. kind            C. wrong      D. possible   

8.A. taught        B. gave           C. made         D. asked

9.A. that            B. when          C. what        D. where

10.A. sadly        B. happily      C. politely     D. happy

During my childhood in the 1960s, my parents were always busy with work and meetings. They left early in the morning and came back late in the evening. My sisters, my brother and I were left alone with Grandma. We saw our parents only on Sundays and during the few holidays. The only long period （一段）of time during which the whole family could be together once a year was the Spring Festival. We missed our parents badly, but didn’t say so because we had been told that hard work was everyone’s duty and that we could not have our own small family without a big family.　　  Later I was a hard working student and, during summer or winter holidays, often stayed alone at university to have more time to study. I was always encouraged by my parents, for whom the holiday was less important than “work” and “study”. Holidays were a waste of time and I felt as if I had done something wrong if I took a holiday or did nothing during a holiday.

I spent the most difficult period of my life abroad. But when I joined this company, my boss didn’t seem to think it right for me to work like that. When I called him at home after office hours for business purposes （目的）, he politely told me that he preferred talking about work with me in the office.

When the holiday season came near, he asked me to plan my leave beforehand （提前）. He talked with me about his holiday and also asked about mine. For him, leave was a right.　　  Giving up a holiday for the company is encouraged in China, but is foolish here. I began to think about holidays.

Today my parents are retired （退休）and stay home with a lot of time for their children. But we are all grown- up and live far away. We miss each other, but we cannot afford to see each other very much and they often feel sorry for the fact that they were too busy to be able to take care of us when we were young.

Nowadays, Chinese take long weekends and have paid holidays. But do they use their holidays to enjoy family life? I hope so because my experience in China and Europe has helped me understand that work is not my whole life and that a family is also very important. I do not want to feel sorry in the future as my parents do and I certainly spend as much time with my son as possible. There is nothing wrong with either working hard or taking holidays, but we shouldn’t have one instead of the other. It is important to keep a balance （平衡）between work and play.   

1. What do the underlined words “paid leave” mean?

A. You have to pay when you take a holiday.　　 

B. Someone will pay for your holiday.　　 

C. You are still paid when you have your holiday.　　

D. You can’t leave until you pay for the holiday.   

2. What is the main idea of this passage?

A. Working is the only part of the life.      

B. Traveling is the best way to spend your holiday.　　 

C. Enjoying holidays is as important as working　　 

D. Sharing happiness with your family is more important   

3. The writer talks about her own experience because she hopes that the Chinese will _______.　　  A. plan their holiday beforehand　　  B. get used to long holidays and enjoy themselves　　  C. give up a holiday for their work　　   D. bring business home after work hours

A man loved his son very much. Every day after work the man would come home and play with the little boy.

One night, while the man was at work, he realized that he had extra（额外的） work to do for the evening, and that he wouldn’t be able to play with his son. But, he wanted to be able to give the boy something to keep him busy. Looking around his office, he saw a magazine with a large map of the world on the cover. He got an idea. He removed the map, and then patiently（耐心地） tore （撕） it up into small pieces. Then he put all the pieces in his coat pocket.

When he got home, his son wanted to play with him, but he spreat （铺） all the pieces of the map on the table. He explained that it was a map of the world, and that by the time his son could put it back together, his extra work would be finished, and they could both play. Surely this would keep the child busy for hours, he thought.

About half an hour later the boy came to the man and said, “OK, it’s finished. Can we play now?” The man was surprised, saying, “That’s impossible. Let’s go and see.” And sure enough, there was the picture of the world, all put together, every piece in its place. The man said, “That’s amazing! How did you do that?” The boy said, “It was simple. On the back of the page was a picture of a man. When I put the man together, the whole world fell into place.”

1. According to the passage, the father told the boy to play by himself because ______.

  A. he didn’t want to play with him any more   B. he didn’t love his child

  C. he had some extra work                               D. the boy didn’t need his father’s help

2. What does the underlined word “removed” mean?

  A. 移动          B. 撕下          C. 搬掉           D. 撕碎

3. Why could the boy finish the “puzzle” so quickly? Because __________.

  A. he was very interested in the map of the world

  B. his father often played the game with him

  C. he wanted to play with his father as soon as possible

  D. the picture of the man on the back of the page helped him

4. The passage mainly tells __________.

  A. how father can make children busy for hours

  B. how to keep children away from parents

  C. people should think about things in some other ways

  D. parents should think of some good ways to train children’s ability

5. Which is the best title?

  A. A world in puzzle.                B. Father and son.

  C. An easy puzzle.                  D. Father’s creative（创造性的） idea.